Hwy 17 CLOSED due to Washout at Northern Lights Ford

Wawa-news just drove out to the barricade at Hwy 101 and Hwy 17 (6:30 a.m.) and has confirmed with the officer there that Highway 17 has been closed due to a washout at Northern Lights Ford. He couldn’t comment to media as to the severity of the washout. He did advise that there should be a press release issued by the SE OPP Detachment shortly.

The highway was closed at 4:32 a.m. and public notified via a tweet. There was no press release issued at that time.

OPP tweeted and emailed a press release at 6:33/6:30 – This is the first official confirmation of why the highway has been closed.

 

“News release from the OPP – ROAD CLOSURE ADVISORY – Hwy 17

Location: including Highway 17 closed between Highway 101 and White River

Brief description of incident and reason for the closure: Highway 17 north of Wawa has been closed by the OPP due to a partial washout of the roadway. Highway 17 will be closed between Highway 101 and White River.

Detour: None

Time of Occurrence/Closure: 0355hrs

Estimated duration of Road Advisory: unknown”

 

 

Wawa-news will continue to update as more information becomes available.

2 comments

  1. Is there an alternate or back road to white river from wawa?

    Editor – NO. The only detour to get from White River to Wawa is via Hwy 631 to Hornepayne, to Highway 11, east to Driftwood and Hwy 655, south to Timmins, then 101 to Chapleau and then to Wawa. This is a 518 mile detour and my gps calculates it would take 11.25 hours to do.

    • I had to do this when it happened last time. I flew in to the Sault from a meeting and had no choice but to drive around. It was the day after. Made for a very long drive!